Mei Tian Mei Yu Entertainment’s new TV/web series Planet Homebuddies, which premiered on February 8 across multiple online video platforms, has been accused of being a “ripoff” of the iconic Friends by U.S. talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and other entertainment journalists.

According to China Daily, each episode of Planet Homebuddies begins with music provided by Danny Wilde of American band The Remembrandts, who also famously performed the theme song of Friends.

Mei Tian Mei Yu maintains that the two programmes are not the same. Jean Zhang, President of Mei Tian Mei Yu Entertainment, says the only similarity between Planet Homebuddies and Friends is the number of leading characters in both series. But beyond that, she states both shows are completely different in terms of production and plot.

Planet Homebuddies follows the lives of three guys and three girls in their 20s and 30s, who because of various circumstances gather together in a large loft. The lead character Jerry is depressed after breaking up with his girlfriend and losing his advertising business. To get over his misfortune, he decides to rent a large loft with two good friends, Andy, an IT specialist and Sean, a DJ. To help Jerry get over his troubles, Andy invites Molly, Jerry’s older sister from Los Angeles, to visit them at the loft. Andy also invites his cousin Bingxue to hang out with them, and add new neighbour Vivian, a self-employed art curator, into the mix. Together they become “homebuddies” – young people who work and live at home, a new terminology created by Mei Tian.